Keyboard

Lenovo started shipping its Yoga Book C930 Windows 10 tablet/laptop hybrid that features a 10.8" 2560x1600 LCD display and a large (around 8", it seems) E Ink display that operates as a dynamic keyboard, a notepad or an e-reader. Other features include an Intel m3-7Y30 or Core i5-7Y54 processor, 4GB RAM and up to 256GB of SSD storage.

You can now buy the Yoga Book C930 at Amazon.com (note: affiliate link to Amazon).

Lenovo and Intel demonstrated a new ultra portable laptop, that has an 7.9" E Ink display instead of the regular keyboard (and in addition to the Full-HD 7.9" LCD). The touch E Ink can be used as a keyboard, and probably has some other functions as well.

This design idea will, reportedly, be used in its Yoga Book 2, which will be released by the end of 2018. That's all the information we have so far...

According to reports, Apple is in talks with Sonder, an Australian startup that is now part of Foxconn's incubator program regarding its E Ink keyboard technology. Sonder confirmed that Apple's procurement board reached out to the company.

The Sonder Keyboard was announced in June 2015, with a price tag of $299. The keyboard hasn't been released yet, but advanced pre-orders are available for $199. Sonder says the keyboard will ship by the end of 2016. This a full keyboard in which all letter and numeric keys are small E Ink displays that can be customized. The keyboard supports Bluetooth and has front lighting.

Microsoft presented a new prototype tablet keyboard cover that they call DisplayCover, and it includes a 1280x305 E Ink touch screen. This can be used to access applications via shortcuts, and can also accept stylus input and touch gestures.

Microsoft says they opted for an E Ink because it's very power efficient. This is just a prototype, but hopefully Microsoft will commercialize a similar tablet cover one day.

Samsung has a new phone, called the Alias 2, that is due soon, and has a keyboard in which each key is a small "display". Engadget now claims that they got it confirmed - it uses an E Ink display.

Samsung Alias2

The phone is said to cost only 79$... It should be interesting to see how this story unfolds later this month.

Samsung will release a new phone soon, the Alias2:

Samsung Alias2

Interestingly, each 'key' in the keyboard is actually a small display. There are several OLED keyboards around, but in this case, we hear that the keys actually retain their display when the power is off. So this might be an e ink display.